Love at First Sight, 10 Years Later

It was one of those days. I remember it very distinctly. I’d had two exams in classes I was on the cusp of failing, and was scheduled to work the dinner rush as a line-cook at the shitty pub-restaurant I’d been working at all summer. I got home from work that night, and immediately threw myself onto the couch while simultaneously turning on the xbox. I packed a bowl of whoever's weed was sitting on the coffee table, while I waited for Call of Duty to load and match the teams. As soon as I dragged my thumb across the wheel of my lighter, the door swung open with alarming force, and Harry threw himself, excited through the threshold.

“Dude. What?” I proclaimed.

“Come on bud, there’s a party next door at Anna’s house. You’re coming with me. Get off your ass. Let’s go,” said Harry.

“Man… I had a long fucking day Harrison,” I said. “I’m in for the night.”

And before I could utter another word, I found myself in a choke hold being lifted to my feet by my overly excited, puppy-like friend. “Alright man. I’ll come with ya if you’re that desperate for a wing man, but I’m only having one beer, and then I’m coming back to this couch, and I’m going to smoke weed, and play Call of Duty,” I said.

“Ya! Totally! Whatever man. I’m just pumped. You’ll be fine,” he said.

I groaned and grunted and grabbed a can of shitty beer, and trudged my way to the townhouse next door where three girls I’d never spoken to had claimed camp to. I opened the door and my life had become something out of a Disney Fairy Tale as I locked eyes with her. I threw out a half grin and she smiled and threw the ping pong ball she was holding,into the air while reclaiming her focus on the very important art of Beer Pong. She missed the shot.

We danced around each other for about an hour or two, shooting glances back and forth, pretending like we weren’t being caught looking by one another, until I saw a ridiculous looking male beginning to flash attempts at flirting with her. He didn’t stand a chance, the bastard jock, but I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable by his unwelcome advances. So I glanced around the party for a moment, looking for someone I knew with a friendly familiarity, who might also know this woman.

“Jaime!” I shouted as the music stopped and everyone at the party stared at me. “Come here. Do you know her?” I asked as I pointed at the woman who was very awkwardly handling her conversation with this butt faced jock.

“Yeah! That’s Jess!” said Jaime.

“Cool. Jess. Could you introduce me?” I asked. And she grabbed my arm and aggressively guided me towards Jessica.

“Hey Jessica. This is Jared. Jared, this is Jessica,” Jaime exclaimed, and completely abandoned the conversation leaving Jessica, myself, and this very aggravated and confused meathead in the most awkward tripod I can recall being a part of, to date.

Jess reached out her hand and I embraced it with mine. “It’s nice to meet you, Jared,” said Jess.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Jessica,” I said.

“SOOOOOOO ANYWAY!” the meathead uttered. And continued to ramble on about things Jess clearly didn’t care about. I sat there in complete silence for about fifteen minutes while this brother babled and babled about how much he loved himself and how successful he’d be and how awesome he was and how proud his mommy and daddy were of him. It was only when Jess turned to me and said, “Hey, we’re going to get a game of euchre going. Do you want to play?”

“Yeah. I mean. You’d have to teach me how, because I’ve kind of never played euchre before, but, yeah! I’ll play.

In the time that four of us sat around the coffee table, while I threw random cards at its surface, I was sure I had fallen in love. Jessica, a student teacher at the time, was either drunkenly not passing the hands on portion of her mock job interview, or I just wasn’t getting it. Either way, I stood up from that table about an hour later completely sober and mind-boggled at this game that everyone I know loves so much. Euchre was, and still is-- for me-- a complete mind-fuck.

Yet everything else that came out of that Euchre game made so much sense. Jess and I vibed on music and artists of which we share an appreciation for.

After the Euchre game, things got kind of weird. Mr. Meathead had somehow weaseled his way back into a conversation with Jess, and eventually ended up locking himself into Jess’s bedroom. I could tell she wasn’t into him, and so I went upstairs to make sure she was alright. I knocked on the door and Jess opened. Her eyes were the size of half-dollars as she nodded her head towards the meathead. “Help,” she silently gestured.

“Hey bud. I don’t know if the lady here really wanted to be locked inside of her bedroom with you,” I said. “What do ya say we take this party back downstairs, where she’ll feel a little more comfortable.”

His eyebrows angled inwards and his face filled with frustration and drunken rage. He stumbled towards me, towering over me by nearly a foot. I’m 6 feet and 2 inches tall, so I knew I was picking a fight with the wrong guy when he stood over me with the advantage of at least 8 inches. “Who the fuck are you?” he asked.

“Hey, look man. I’m not trying to start a fight with you. I just don’t find it ‘cool’ when a girl feels as though she’s been trapped inside her own bedroom by someone of your size,” I said. “Could we just go back downstairs? I really don’t want any drama.”

He looked at Jess and could tell she was uncomfortable by his attempts to get her alone.

“Fine,” he said as he shoved me out of his way and hobbled down the stairs.

Standing at her bedroom door, I turned to Jess and said, “Come on. Let’s go back to the party.”

And before I knew it, she grabbed me by my wrist, shut the door and locked it behind her.

I woke up the next morning in her bed.